Birthday
by Senko Wakimarin
Summary: When poor Tobi wakes up all alone on a story day, is it any surprise that his mood should fall a bit? DeiTobi fluff, giftfic.


**Birthday**

**By Senko for Plastic Cake**

Sometimes Tobi feels out of place with his partner. He is not an artist- his hands are too clumsy and his vision is too poor for him to create much that way. He isn't even sure he understands his dear senpai's version of art. It is perhaps too deep for him- most of what he sees when his partner is 'creating' is actually destruction… but the sight of that face transformed in joy is simply too wonderful for him to ever argue or complain.

He has always done his best to help his senpai in other ways. He knew he really wasn't much use to Deidara in battle- he seemed to always be in the other man's way. So he did other things; tidying up and cooking and making sure let the blonde have all the space he needed. He does what he can to make the other man happy, even when it seems Deidara would like nothing more than to strangle him. There is nothing he wouldn't do for his senpai, because his senpai means so much to him.

It seems, at times, to be an unfair situation- Deidara does not often even attempt to return the favors for Tobi, rarely even thanks him. Instead he over reacts to the Tobi's mistakes and highlights his failures, becoming angry quickly and otherwise remaining irritable and distant.

This is all okay to Tobi, who is patient with his younger partner's temper and immune to his insults. Because no matter how angry he's gotten or how badly Tobi has messed up, Deidara has never _really_ hurt him, and he always comes back. Everything is alright to Tobi, because he knows Deidara will _always_ come back.

Sooner or later.

Today Tobi woke without the blonde's faint snore or the sounds of him moving around their camp; the was no smell of clay warmed by busy hands or something burning through the finished product. There was silence- Deidara was gone.

Unnerved but not terribly worried, he had forced himself fully awake and took in his surroundings, hopping halfheartedly that the blonde would appear among the tall grass or that there would be the flash of a distant explosion. Of course, there was nothing. But, laying next to the dead fire of last night, there was a small piece of paper covered in messy, yet somehow elegant, writing.

"Idiot," it said, "I'll be back later. Stay here, and if you're gone when I get back, I'll kill you."

Well then.

He would just have to wait. The note was turned over, flipped upside down, re-read, folded, unfolded, set aside, and finally just clamped in one gloved hand while Tobi tried to get more meaning of it. It wasn't very helpful as far as telling him where Deidara had gone, nor did it tell him when he could expect him back or even why he had left. It was a clue, but not an especially good one.

Wondering if he had done something wrong, Tobi had set about cleaning up their camp and making it ready so they could leave quickly if that was what Deidara wanted. The sun rose higher all the time as he found less and less to do, and struggled to think of why his partner left in the first place.

He _had_ burnt the fish last night, but it had only been a little, and Deidara hadn't complained _too_ mush. And he'd accidentally tripped into his partner's back, nearly knocking them both over, but again, the blonde had only yelled a little and then all was again. Had he _said_ something? He couldn't think of anything that had upset his dear companion, but memory wasn't his specialty either.

Eventually, out of things to clean and tired of moving their sparse belongings around (he'd noticed almost immediately that Deidara's bag of clay was also missing) he sat on a rock and stared at the little note in his hands. When it around was noon he took a break from this to cook a little rice, which he forgot to flavor. It was as bland and forgettable as the hours before.

Sitting on his rock with his hands clasped around a little piece of paper that was the only physical evidence that Deidara had ever been there at all, Tobi took to starting at the sky. This was normally a cheerful thing to him, to make shapes of the clouds and spy for birds and flying bugs. Today the sky was an even and cheerless gray, and though he could hear no birds at all. This was as dreary as his lunch, and his mind wandered.

It had been said that Sasori was something of a genius, even among such elite minds as were in the Akatsuki. No wonder Deidara had such respect for him- Tobi was sure Deidara would never have taken off while Sasori slept. No wonder Deidara had loved Sasori, even if he was just a puppet with human heart.

There had been times Tobi had caught his senpai carefully holding and caressing something that looked suspiciously like a wooden finger. He always hid it away quickly (but with great care) when he caught Tobi staring, scolding him for whatever came to mind. It hadn't been a year since the puppet-master had died, but it was close… maybe Deidara had left to pay his respects, or to remember his 'dana'… or maybe to just get away from what he thought of as an annoyance.

Dismayed by his own troublesome thoughts, Tobi groaned out loud and flopped gracelessly over backward, landing in the grass with a puff of dirt and a rush of air from his lungs. He didn't move.

Perhaps Deidara was just off somewhere spying, or collecting fresh clay. Never mind that they were on the way _back _ to base, never mind that his bag had still been nearly full. Tobi didn't like the thoughts that had come before and instead clung to these ones- they were so much nicer!

Anyway, even though there were lots of times when he knew Deidara would rather be on his own, when he said mean things or threw stuff at him, Tobi also had a score of memories that were nothing but pure joy between himself and the blonde. Ever since he had convinced Deidara to quite drinking, things had been sweeter between them- how happy it made him that he could help his senpai.

There had been lots of times when the blonde had said things that were nice, almost compliments; when he brushed against Tobi or leaned his head on Tobi's shoulder. Those were nice things, wonderful things; surely they meant Deidara returned at least some of the love Tobi offered.

But if so then were was he? His note certainly didn't reflect much in the way of sweet feelings.

Thunder rumbled slowly across the sky, as if to add to Tobi's mood, and he sat up quickly. There was nothing in there camp that could be ruined in the rain, but it suddenly sounded like a storm. He hoped that, wherever his senpai had run off to, he would return before a real storm broke.

As it was, he refused to leave this spot until Deidara came back; not because of the threat on the note, but because he was becoming worried about his partner. Since they had been paired, they had not been apart for this long very often, not unless there was trouble.

Rain began to patter down softly and Tobi resumed residence on his rock, placing his uniform hat on his head to deflect the water. It was a listless sort of rain, the kind that can't seem to make up its mind where to be fog or rain, and with the cool air, it promised to make anyone dumb enough to sit in it nice and sick.

Tobi was resolute, though, wrapping his arms around his knees and holding tightly to his little note (which was trying to wilt in the moist climate). He was a good boy, he would wait for Deidara no matter what. Even if the blonde _had_ left without explanation and kept away all day, leaving Tobi bored, lonely, and feeling abandoned.

Maybe when Deidara returned Tobi would find some choice words for him though- he was generally pretty okay with whatever Deidara did, but this was pushing things just a little bit.

The rain intensified, and the dark-haired ninja lost himself to the almost rhythmic pattering against his hat. As often happens when one is all alone for extended periods of time with nothing to do and nothing new to think about, he became introspective and forgot about the chilly air and quickening rain- so when a warm arm wrapped itself around his chest he nearly uttered a little scream and fell backwards against an equally warm, slim chest.

Deidara caught him easily, uttering a little laugh as he helped right his partner. "You're so stupid, un! It's only me."

Turning on the blonde, glad just for the sight of him but a little irritated too, Tobi was for a moment silent. When he spoke his voice was a little tight with emotion, anger and relief mixed in an odd combination, served with leftover shock. "Senpai! Where have you been?! I waited all day and all you left was a note telling me not to leave! That wasn't very considerate, senpai!"

The blonde offered a little grin, looking down at his partner with frustrating amusement, unaffected by Tobi's blatant irritation. He leaned close to the older male, tilting his head to one side. "It's good you stayed put, anyway. I was making something for you."

With a little flourish he produced from his bag a small sculpture. It was a bird, of course, with it's delicately sculpted wings just lifting as if in flight, perched upon a slim and well formed branch. Expecting it to move, Tobi was reluctant to take it when it was offered, and then held it very carefully, waiting for the inevitable.

"It's not going to explode, un." This his senpai said with a touch of regret. "I wanted it to, but I thought you might like it better if you could see it more than once. You _do_ like it, right?"

Running his gloved hands cautiously on the precious wings, over the slightly chubby body, the wonderfully accurate branch, Tobi nodded, slightly dumbstruck. Not only had he not expected any sort of gift from his senpai, ever, but had never known the artist to create something that wouldn't explode. And he had done it for him.

"It's not _real_ art, but I'm glad you like it un."

"Th-thank you, Senpai! It's very beautiful!" This, Tobi honestly felt, was an understatement. The bird looked real- though it was all the even brown of hard-baked clay, he still expected it to flutter away from it's branch and break the spell of its stillness. "But… uhm… why?"

The blonde licked his lips and Tobi was shocked to see him blush slightly. The rain started to come down harder, working its way up to a real storm, and Deidara raised his slim shoulders in a shrug. "Zetsu told me a while ago… I might be a little late or a little early, un, but he said your… birthday was coming up and I thought..."

His voice trailed off in a mutter, his face becoming an adorable pink as he blushed further. Tobi's heart leapt in his chest; he had never imagined that his senpai would ever do something like this for him.

"There is one other little thing, un." The blonde said very quietly, leaning in closer. Tobi did not notice the hand sneaking up to the edge of his mask, taken by surprise with the one that lightly caressed his neck instead. Deidara lifted the mask up a little, pushing it away just enough to press their lips softly together. The touch was so light as to be nonexistent, almost not a kiss at all. It was also the best kiss Tobi had ever received. Slowly the smaller man pulled away, leaving his partner stunned while he repositioned the brilliant orange mask and tried to control his blush.

"I though… Sasori…?" Tobi question slowly, his voice broken in shock. The smile that lifted Deidara's lips was resplendent, lighting up the gray world around them.

"You make me happy, un, even if you are painfully annoying at times. Dana would want me to be happy, the same as he wouldn't want me to grieve him."

Holding his gift and the note that was really not much more than a soggy mess now, one in each hand and each representing very different forms of attention from his senpai, Tobi managed a nod. His partner could be very confusing indeed… but Tobi felt this was the honest truth. Why else would Deidara have taken the time to make the sculpture.

He put his arms around his senpai and pressed his masked face against that golden hair, feeling slim arms lock around his middle in a tight hug. When he pulled back to look down at his smaller partner, he raised one gloved hand smoothly to his mask, pushing it back up, and leaning down all at once. As the rain thickened into a nearly opaque curtain, swallowing their dark forms, their lips met in a firm kiss, the kind that spoke of forever and made no room for exceptions.

END


End file.
